What`s In A Name? Marathon To Find Out

It has taken 14 years, but Chicago`s marathon finally will get over its identity crisis in 1991.

If it has an identity at all next year, that is.

Since its debut in 1977, the race variously has been called the Mayor Daley Marathon, America`s Marathon/Chicago, Old Style Marathon/Chicago and, this year, Old Style Chicago Marathon.

Unofficially, of course, everyone called it the Chicago Marathon.

And that is what its name will be next year, no matter who sponsors the race.

The marathon`s 13th edition, sponsored for the third year by Old Style, begins at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago at 8 a.m. Sunday. The winner should reach the finish on Columbus Drive south of Balbo at approximately 10:10. The weather forecast is for near-perfect marathoning conditions.

``We would have asked for the change this year, but the race was locked into its contract with Old Style,`` said Jim Sheahan, project coordinator for the Mayor`s Office of Special Events. ``Having it as the Chicago Marathon, period, is the proper thing for the city.``

The title sponsor contract with Old Style runs out this year and is unlikely to be renewed. Race director Carey Pinkowski and founder Lee Flaherty are looking for another major sponsor. There is no guarantee they will find one.

Flaherty was in that situation four years ago when Beatrice ended its seven-year sponsorship. The race was canceled one year (1987) before Old Style came along to revive it.

Name restrictions could discourage prospective sponsors in this marketing era. Sponsors increasingly have incorporated their name into the event`s name to insure publicity. The John Hancock Bowl (formerly the Sun Bowl) football game is a prime example. Others are the ADT London Marathon, the Houston Tenneco Marathon and the Revco Cleveland Marathon.

``We don`t anticipate this causing a problem,`` Sheahan said. ``Look at the Boston Marathon and New York Marathon.``

Both those races have major sponsors whose names are not in the race title. Both also have far more tradition and sponsorship appeal.

A Chicago bank and United Airlines are among the companies with which serious discussions have been held about title sponsorship for the 1991 Chicago Marathon. American Airlines is currently one of the race`s

contributing sponsors.

To the top three finishers in the men`s and women`s open divisions and the top finisher in the men`s and women`s masters and wheelchair races, American is giving a pair of roundtrip tickets for any of its European destinations served from Chicago. The race winners get first-class tickets.

First place is also worth $30,000.

The favorites are Dionicio Ceron of Mexico and Jan Huruk of Poland in the men`s race, and Aurora Cunha of Portugal in the women`s.

Ceron, 25, a first-time marathoner, is the top-ranked road racer on the U.S. circuit this year. He recently set a world record (1 hour, 46 seconds)

for the half-marathon. Ceron is trying to become the second Mexican in three years to win the race. Alejandro Cruz, his training partner in Mexico City, was the surprise 1988 winner in 2:08:57, the Mexican national record. Cruz, however, had run four previous marathons.

Huruk, 30, has the 10th best marathon time of the year, a 2:10:16 while finishing second in the Vienna Marathon.

The top U.S. runner is likely to be 1988 Olympian Ed Eyestone, who was fourth (2:14:57) in the 1989 Chicago Marathon. Eyestone, of Bountiful, Utah, ran a personal best 2:12:00 while finishing seventh in April`s London Marathon.

Cunha, 32, is the only woman in the race to have completed a marathon under 2:30. She ran 2:28:11 at the 1989 London Marathon.

This is her first U.S. marathon. Cunha has previously run at Tokyo, Paris, London and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. She won at 1988 in Paris and Tokyo.

Cunha was a late entry to the race. Money to pay her five-figure appearance fee became available when several other top runners withdrew with injuries.

Midde Hamrin-Senorski of Sweden and Mary Knisely of Dallas could challenge if Cunha falters. Knisely, better known as a 3,000-meter track runner, is looking for a time ``near 2:30`` in her second marathon.

Neither defending champion will be running. Men`s winner Paul Davies-Hale is back home in England, while women`s winner Lisa Weidenbach of Issaquah, Wash., is here for the Rogaine 5-kilometer race to be run in conjuction with the marathon.